Have you ever tried to nail down the specifics of why you enjoy some of your favorite things? I certainly do. I've done so in the past with video games when I wrote about game play variety, but today I won't be talking about video games.
I got to thinking about the subject when I began reading the ump-teenth volume of The Dresden Files, a book called Changes. It should be no secret that I adore the series. But why? The pop culture references and excellent humor expertly sprinkled throughout the tense and dramatic scenes help, but one of the keys in my mind is how much the characters and the setting have changes throughout the course of the series. I'm not speaking merely of the fact that Harry Dresden has levelled up from a nobody to an actual blip on the radar of the supernatural world in his setting. I'm speaking of the fact that he's gained and lost close friends, companions, and even relatives. I'm speaking of the fact that he's overcome challenges that spanned multiple books and lives with the scars and the memories for many books more. Friends have become enemies and vice versa, and it is not at all contrived or cheesy. The world in which Harry Dresden finds himself now is a very different place from the world at the outset of the novels.
And that's it in a nutshell. Thinking on this, I began to look for analogs in other fiction. And what I found were my two all-time favorite television shows. (yes, Fringe still sits in third place)
Farscape
While Farscape shares the elements of comedy and an out-of-place hero with The Dresden Files, it's most striking commonality in my mind is the degree to which characters change over the course of their adventures and travels. By midway through the second season, John Crichton was no longer struggling to figure out what was happening in the universe around him. He'd matured. His enemies and friends had shifted, and the show had actually killed off important characters. In a pre-Game of Thrones world, this was admirable. Allowing main characters to die may create casting havoc, but it allows for amazing things in the show's writing. When nobody can ever die, you stop worrying about the characters and nothing feels like a threat.
The 4400
By far the best example I can come up with. The plot moved so rapidly in the 4400 that from season to season the show's premise was different. The story is about rapid changes in the world: The 4400, the future, promicin, Promise City, The "Great Leap Forward". Each was such a huge and shocking revelation that the show could hardly be said to be about the same things anymore. And it's this ability to change the world of the story that truly allows the story to stretch and breathe and be great.